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In this climate change video essay, I briefly analyze The Day After Tomorrow and why disaster movies and Cli-Fi in general matter for climate action. I look at how climate change is depicted in the science fiction genre, and how we might come to use it to raise awareness about environmental issues.
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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
00:02
[Applause]
00:06
you
00:06
[Applause]
00:07
[Music]
00:10
you
00:11
[Applause]
00:13
by now class I or climate fiction has
00:16
carved out somewhat of a niche for
00:18
itself in movie theaters big-budget
00:20
crowd pleasers like Christopher Nolan’s
00:23
interstellar or action flicks like
00:25
Kingsman the Secret Service have started
00:28
using climate change as a villainous
00:29
weapon or as a way to create apocalyptic
00:33
destruction much like nuclear imagery
00:36
was used in the 1980s to navigate
00:38
American fears of catastrophic nuclear
00:41
apocalypse climate change is beginning
00:44
to take root in Hollywood as a way to
00:46
understand what the environmental future
00:48
holds for Humanity explicit references
00:51
the climate change in movies really
00:53
began in 2004 with the day after
00:56
tomorrow the film revealed that a global
00:59
climate disaster movie could rake in
01:01
almost 550 million dollars from the
01:05
worldwide box office given its
01:07
popularity the day after tomorrow is a
01:09
perfect case study to understand how
01:11
climate change related movies affect
01:13
viewers and why they play an important
01:16
role in spurring climate action The Day
01:19
After Tomorrow catches its drama within
01:21
an extreme weather event caused by a
01:23
rapidly changing climate
01:25
in short climate change is the
01:27
protagonists primary motivator film uses
01:31
its fictional universe to envision the
01:33
effects of our fossil fuel reliant
01:34
culture it’ll be in an extreme way in
01:37
order to show that immediate climate
01:39
action is necessary in our real world
01:41
one of the main ways and achieves this
01:43
is through dialogue our climate is
01:47
fragile at the rate we’re burning fossil
01:49
fuels and polluting the environment the
01:51
ice caps will soon disappear
01:53
professor Paul our economy is every bit
01:59
as fragile as the environment perhaps
02:00
you should keep that in mind before
02:02
making sensationalist claims this simple
02:05
yet effective seeing is eerily similar
02:07
to general arguments surrounding climate
02:09
policy today Dennis Quaid’s character
02:12
jack lays out clear evidence of a
02:14
potential climate disaster that the vice
02:16
president is hesitant to act insisting
02:19
that climate action will mean economic
02:22
instability with the subsequent
02:23
onslaught of super storms and tornadoes
02:26
however the movie quickly reveals the
02:28
error of the vice president’s reasoning
02:30
ultimately showing that refusing to act
02:32
on climate change will have worse
02:34
consequences than economic instability
02:37
well clearly simplistic the Menace of
02:39
unrelenting super storms caused by a
02:42
fossil fuel reliant world affected many
02:45
of the viewers of the day after tomorrow
02:47
the primary scientific consultant for
02:50
the movie Michael Malter noted nothing I
02:52
have done in the 23 years of my climate
02:55
change career may have a greater impact
02:57
than this film while a study in the 2004
03:02
issue of Environment that surveyed
03:04
audience members a week before and one
03:06
month after they saw The Day After
03:08
Tomorrow reveals that quote the film led
03:11
moviegoers to have higher levels of
03:14
concern and worried about global warming
03:16
considering the global reach of the film
03:18
these results speak promising Lee
03:20
towards Clive positive impact on climate
03:23
change awareness yes the movies
03:26
narrative is simplistic and it’s weather
03:28
events over-the-top some of the even
03:30
argued that this extreme depiction of
03:33
rapid climate shift can lead to a
03:34
misconstruing of what a future with a
03:37
changed climate would look like in
03:39
essence the exaggerated steps the movie
03:41
takes to appeal to the movie goer leaves
03:44
the viewer struggling to understand
03:46
exactly what risks they face in a
03:48
changing climate but to me that’s not
03:51
the role of these big-budget – movies
03:54
they’re fictional exaggeration of
03:56
climate disaster can be tolerated if the
03:58
movies achieve their main task raising
04:01
public consciousness about global
04:03
warming
04:04
movies like snowpiercer and The Day
04:06
After Tomorrow work at the front line of
04:08
a growing desire to grapple with climate
04:11
change they introduce people to the
04:13
issue through enjoyable and easily
04:16
consumable narratives which can then
04:18
lead into more information heavy outfits
04:20
like documentaries or scientific
04:23
research major climate action will take
04:25
a lot of effort in many different arenas
04:29
in this new genre of life I plays a key
04:31
role in helping people understand that
04:34
climate change is an imminent threat
04:38
this video is made possible in part by
04:40
the wonderful people who support me on
04:42
patreon if you’re interested in helping
04:44
me grow this channel head on over to
04:46
patreon and pledge a small amount of
04:48
money for every video I really in return
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I’ll send you gifts like a handwritten
04:52
thank you note or in our changing
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climate sticker as always if you like
04:56
what you just saw share it around and
04:58
subscribed thanks so much for watching
05:00
and I’ll see you next Friday
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video.